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Cluster Mapping Initiative is part of CLUSTER’s mandate for critical engagement in the city and public space through urban research, programs and design interventions. This initiative aims at the documentation and analysis of tangible and intangible urban elements, and establishing a reliable archive available to researchers, designers and policy makers, and accessible to engaged citizens. It includes a series of interactive maps and archives, urban tours and thematic itineraries, as well as pilot interventions in public space. Cluster Mapping Initiative is an ongoing umbrella framework that seeks to expand its database through collaboration with complementary mapping projects and initiatives.

What is it?
Madad (The Cultural Support Initiative) is an independent Egyptian grant-making institution, financed by individuals, companies, banks and other organisations and agencies, whose purpose is to fund local cultural projects in Egypt.

Madad's mission:
Madad (The Initiative to Support Culture) seeks to support and encourage cultural projects targeting marginalised segments of the society that are deprived of cultural services. It also seeks to further the inclusion of art as a basic component of human development, to promote the values of creativity and freedom of expression in society, and to stimulate the involvement of diverse sectors of society in the support for cultural work throughout Egypt.

Who are Madad's intended beneficiaries?
The Egyptian public, in general, and the inhabitants of small towns and villages and the popular neighbourhoods and slums of the major urban centres, in particular.

Artistic groups and associations and artistically talented individuals who are relatively obscure, who are not connected with the official cultural establishment and, most importantly, who work in villages and poorer neighbourhoods.

Educators and schools that serve villages, slums and other impoverished areas.

Targets for 2012-2015:
1. To collect funding resources of least LE 500,000 per year from donations by individuals, companies and organisations in Egypt and abroad.
2. To support at least 40 cultural and artistic projects oriented toward the marginalised populations in at least ten governorates who are deprived of cultural services.
3. To sponsor and carry out a new cultural initiative once every two years.

How will Madad be funded?
Madad will be funded by individual donations from Egyptians who believe that culture and the arts can play a major role in building a modern democratic society and who are keen to safeguard the freedoms of creativity and expression. Madad will also seek to attract financial and material contributions from Egyptian and international organisations, agencies, banks and companies.

Because Madad is eager to promote and expand community involvement in the support of culture, it hopes to ensure that personal donations remain a steady source of funding. Towards this end it has adopted the concept of a funding safety-net. First, 50 people commit to an annual donation of LE 5,000 to Madad for its first three years. Then, each of these 50 funders, who will constitute Madad's Founders Association, pledges to produce three other persons from his circle of family, friends and acquaintances who will commit to an annual donation of LE 1,000 for three years. This larger circle of 150 people will form “The Friends of Madad” who, additionally, will help to promote the organisation and publicise its activities. Madad will also offer the opportunity to make smaller donations of LE 500 per year, with no need to make an annual commitment. The idea, here, is to encourage the involvement of students, young professionals and other young men and women, and to expand Madad's support network among the younger generation.

With regard to the financial and material donations it seeks to obtain from Egyptian and international companies, banks, agencies and institutions, Madad hopes that the contributions derived from these sources will be double the amount derived from individual donations.

Individuals as well as corporate and institutional donors will receive numerous benefits. For example, their names will appear as donors on Madad's website and in its publications, and they will have the right to attend Madad's annual celebration and any other activities it organises.

Who is a prospective Madad funder?
He or she is an Egyptian citizen, residing in Egypt or abroad, interested in public affairs and eager to promote the values of freedom, democracy and social justice. She or he also believes that culture can be instrumental to the advancement and dissemination of these values in society and she or he would have a fixed income that is sufficient enough to be able to afford offering some financial support to community initiatives that aspire to further these ends. Such an individual might be a businessperson, a staff member of an international organisation, a well known artist or intellectual, a media figure, a university professor, a political or rights activist, or a professional or student in any number of fields and disciplines.

A prospective Madad funder is also any Egyptian or international organisation, bank, company or agency that espouses the values of a responsible business sector, that regards it as its duty to help society advance, and that is keen to promote the values of creativity and freedom of expression in Egypt.

How will the funding process work?
Madad will offer funding in the form of grants to individuals, societies, institutions, companies and others by means of an open competition held three times a year. Winners will be selected by a panel made up of members from the Founders Association and any specialists they engage to help them.

Forthcoming contests will be announced on the Internet and in the daily press. Applications will be accepted by email and ordinary post. After winners are selected, the grants awarded to them will be paid in two or three instalments, depending on the nature of the project. Winners will be required to submit a financial and descriptive report on their project.